#covid19 restrictions on visitors to the hospital. Met with pts family outside to get hearing aids to their hospitalized family member. Text: “I’m the bald asian guy in a white coat and mask 😉”. 😂😂😂 Sent this pic so they knew what I looked like. #intmtnapp #PAsCanDoThat … 
My plea: Be intentional about care of the patient. While the illness may be why they are in clinic/hospital, it is the human we are caring for. I feel weird that it is “more care” to obtain hearing aids and set up communication (also offered to take ipad in to pt). 1/
We have heard stories of isolated patients with covid. There are isolated patients w/o covid too. That 80+ yo pt has lost the usual patient advocate (family/friend) b/c of restrictions. We may understand illness, but do we know and understand the pt like their family? 2/
We continue to make big decisions. Where to discharge: home, hospice, snf, family’s home, outpt treatment, etc. are we being intentional about including family that are now truly “not present, not seen”? 3/
Questions: Can the patient contact their family? Can they even reach the hospital phone on their own? Have we helped set up a dedicated communication (face time, google duo, etc.)? For both pt and family, the hospital is truly a “big black box”. Is this care? 4/
I’ve turned this around. Inwas able to liaise for this family. Brought hearing aids in, facilitated interaction w/case management with family, pushed for ipad communication. Who will advocate for me if this was my hospitalized wife? 5/
Will I get phone trees? Will I get endless holds? Will I hear, “yes sir, we will get back to you” only to sit and fret? I urge systems to have dedicated pt advocates, now and in the future. These folks can be medical or not. They will help facilitate care. 6/
Let’s put care back in healthcare. We kind of know how to tx dz. let’s treat the patient. @MKIttlesonMD @medicalaxioms @HeartOTXHeartMD @fischman_david @hvanspall @omega360 @DrMarthaGulati @purviparwani @onco_cardiology @mmamas1973 @ash71us @DrToniyaSingh @SamRRazaMD @iamritu
@threadreaderapp unroll
